Resignation
by marine-machine
Summary: Tempers fly when two team members hand in their resignation...


**Resignation**

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, wish I did though

Rating: K

AN: Thankyou to Kate for all her help and inspiration

* * *

Kate sighed and looked at the envelope in her hands. She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision, but she felt that she no longer had a choice. The ball was already rolling, and she just had to go with it. The elevator doors opening with a ding, revealing the empty bullpen. It was too early for anybody to be in yet, even Gibbs. She purposely walked to Gibbs' desk and laid the envelope on his desk. Looking around the office again, she turned on her heal and left the bullpen.

* * *

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes, feeling the hot black liquid make its way down his throat. Last night had been a rough one, he'd decided to try to go to bed early and catch up on some much needed sleep. The team had been getting case after case for almost three months. After an hour of tossing and turning in bed, he got up and sanded the boat, drinking bourbon. He'd eventually fallen asleep beneath the boat, after a few too many drinks, only to be woken up a few hours later when somebody dialed 'the wrong number'. After the call, he hadn't been able to get back to sleep, so decided to come into work and catch up on paperwork. 

He took another gulp of his coffee, draining more than half of it. Taking the stairs to the bullpen two at a time, he reflected on the past few days. Everybody in the team had started to get on everybody's nerves. But there was something different about Kate, she'd been acting strangely for a while now, and Gibbs couldn't quite put his finger on it. Frowning, he walked into the office, stopping when he saw Kate at his desk. He quickly ducked behind one of the partitions, wondering why she was in on a Saturday, when they hadn't been called in for a case. He watched as Kate put something on his desk, before looking around the office, then walking out. Gibbs followed her with his eyes as she walked into the elevator.

Frowning, he took another sip of his coffee and slowly made his way to his desk. As he approached his desk, he scanned the top of it to see what was new. When he saw the white envelope sitting on his desk, he started to get butterflies. Without taking his eyes off the letter, he sat at his desk and put his coffee down. Sighing, he picked it up and carefully opened it. As his eyes scanned the contents of the letter, he bit his lip to keep his emotions at bay. Looking around the office, he put the Kate's resignation in one of the draws of his desk and tried to forget about it.

* * *

Kate walked into the office with a frown on her face. She was sure that she'd seen Gibbs' car in the garage when she'd left on Saturday morning, but she hadn't heard anything from him over the weekend. Perhaps he hadn't seen it… No, the man's an ex-marine; of course he'd seen it. 

"Morning Kate, how was your weekend?" Tony asked, leaning back on his chair with a grin on his face

"My weekend was fine, Tony" Kate replied curtly, glancing at Gibbs' desk as she sat down. She noticed that the envelope was missing; he must've read it…

"Oh, that sucks," Tony commented sympathetically, "Wanna hear about my weekend?"

"No, I don't" Kate snapped, starting up her computer

"On Saturday night, I met this really hot blonde chick, Sharon; she had the best legs…" Tony ignored her

Kate picked up a piece of paper and scrunched it up, throwing it at Tony. Gibbs chose that moment to stride into the bullpen, catching the paper ball as he walked past.

"Get back to work, or you'll both lose your jobs" Gibbs barked at them

Kate smirked as she looked at her computer.

"Something you want to say, Agent Todd?" Gibbs growled

"No, I said all I needed to say in my resignation" Kate replied, without looking up

Tony gasped and almost fell off his chair, "You're resigning?"

"No, she's not" Gibbs growled before Kate could reply

"Why?" Tony asked, standing over his desk

"Got a better offer from the FBI" Kate replied

"You're gonna be a fed?" McGee asked as he found his voice

"A three lettered…?" Tony asked, trying to recover from shock

"She's not going anywhere!" Gibbs barked

"You can't stop me, Gibbs" Kate told him, "I'll just go over your head, take my resignation to the director"

"You can't…!" Gibbs started

"I can and I will!" Kate interrupted him

"You're leaving?" Tony asked with sadness

"To the FBI?" McGee asked

"Going forever?" Tony asked, he turned to McGee, "We should cut our losses, leave before Gibbs…"

Gibbs interrupted him as he swatted him hard on the back of his head, "Get back to work," he growled, "All of you"

* * *

Kate sighed and relaxed into her couch. Today had been agonizingly slow; they hadn't caught any new cases, so they'd spent the day going over cold cases. The tension between Kate and Gibbs had almost reached breaking point, and by the end of the day, everybody was grumpy. Then, to put an end to the fantastic day they were having, when they left the office, it began raining as a storm descended on them. 

Picking up the Chinese take-away box, she flicked aimlessly through the channels on television till she found a program she liked. She poured herself a glass of wine and threw the Chinese box in the bin once she was finished. Blankly gazing at the pictures on the screen in-front of her, it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

She'd only been asleep for around twenty minutes when someone banging on her door woke her up. Glaring at the door, she slowly got up and walked to the door. As she opened the door, she started at the sight of a drenched Gibbs standing in the rain.

"Gibbs" she acknowledged coolly

"Can I come inside?" he asked softly

"No," Kate answered, blocking his entrance

He sighed and appeared to debate something within his head for a moment, his eyes darting to one side. He spread his arms wide, asking simply, "Why?"

"Why what, Gibbs?" Kate asked

"You know 'what'" Gibbs growled, "Why are you leaving m…us?"

"I explained earlier" Kate responded, getting irritated

"What? That the feds gave you a better deal!" Gibbs shouted, "That's bullshit! And we both know it!" Gibbs sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair, "I want the truth, Todd"

"I can't give it to you," Kate replied

"Why not?" Gibbs asked

"Because the truth would hurt you" Kate responded

Gibbs looked taken back for a second, "Kate, I … Do we have to do this out here, can't we talk inside?"

"No, whatever you have to say, you can say it out here, Gibbs" Kate said coolly

Gibbs glared at her, then gave a small smile as he leant against the wall, "You know, you beat me to it" he commented, "To resigning. I was gonna wait till today, then have you or DiNozzo take over as team leader"

"You were going to resign?" Kate asked, frowning

"Yeah" Gibbs replied, looking into Kate's eyes before looking down, "Looks like I'm not gonna have to now"

Kate's frown deepened, "What do you mean?"

"I just don't know if we were gonna resign for the same reason" he continued

"Well, you tell me why you were gonna resign and I'll tell you if it's the same reason as mine" Kate suggested

Gibbs pushed off the wall, standing in-front of Kate, in her space, "I thought that would've been obvious"

"Humor me, Jethro" Kate told him

Gibbs raised his eyebrows and asked with a grin, "Jethro?" he ducked his head to the side, "I think you already know"

"Maybe, but I need you to say it" Kate pushed

Gibbs smiled and cleared his throat, "I love you, Caitlin Todd. Have done since the day I met you"

Kate smiled, "That's a bit cliché, don't you think?"

He laughed, "Ok, yeah, so maybe since the day after I met you, the whole '_I think I'm destined to shoot you_' thing" he shook his head

"Okay, enough talking," Kate told him, putting her hands either side of his head

Gibbs pulled away, "No, you need to stick to your end of the deal"

Smiling, Kate pulled him closer again, "Yeah, same reason, I love you too, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Now, kiss me"

* * *

That's it...Please review! Tell me what you thought 


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